From Australia to Nepal: in conversation with our customers (Part 2)

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today! Could you introduce yourself?

Bhumika: I’m Bhumika Tamang and I'm based in Sydney. I arrived in Australia in 2016 and I came as a student to pursue my education here. And at the moment, I'm currently working full time. I work in a migration firm, where we look after visa applications for international clients, such as students and couples. I enjoy using WorldRemit.

Pradip: My name is Pradip Sharma and I have been living in Australia for over four years. I’m an IT graduate. I graduated from Sydney University, and I moved here to Canberra for my permanent residence.

The 500 Reasons competition

Let’s start with the competition, what were you doing when you found out that you had won?

Bhumika: I've never won anything before like this. I have entered a lot of competitions, but I didn't expect anything from this either. I just thought, why not? I was really, really happy like I thought at first because there are a lot of scams going around, so I wasn't sure if it's real or not. But as I looked into it, I found that it was real and I was really, really happy.

Pradip: I live with a Nepalese couple who are my friends. I said “I’ve just won 500 dollars!” I think they said something like, “What? Did you play the quiz or something like that?” It was fun – I was really happy.

What are you planning on using the prize for?

Bhumika: I wanted to get a gift for my parents who have supported me for so many years. So my siblings are here, [but] my parents are back home. And when I first came here, they invested a lot of money in me because, as you know, Nepalese currency and Australian currency – there's a big difference. When I was a student, they supported me financially. I thought that after I graduated, it's a good time for me to pay them back little by little. When I started working, I wanted to send money to them so that they can start looking after themselves as well. My father is retired And my mother is a housewife, so they're mostly at home. And recently, because of the lockdown, they couldn't go out. So I was really grateful with the gifts that I received from WorldRemit because with that, I got them a new TV. And now they can enjoy themselves at home. Now they can do YouTube and also watch movies together.

Pradip: I used it to support my wife who is stuck in Nepal due to the pandemic. It’s pretty frustrating. I think you’ll know about the hard border restrictions that Australia have put in place since the pandemic started. I got married in November 2019, and I came back here in December. That's when COVID started spreading across the world. My wife’s visa was still in progress. It hadn’t been granted at the time, so I was here waiting for her to come and join me. The cases started rising and the Australian government shut the borders in March and things started looking worse for us. She was left there [in Nepal] alone and I am still here alone. I was just trying [with the competition winnings] to help her financially with some money so that she can do some shopping, just trying to support her.

Sending money home and using WorldRemit

How long have you been using WorldRemit? What do you think of it?

Bhumika: I started using it in 2019. One of my friends back home  recommended WorldRemit and I tried it out to send money to him, and I liked how I could keep track of everything. So I was like, OK, so maybe in the future I could use it, so I started using it after that.

I had used Hundi before. I didn't like I didn't really like the service because I couldn't really keep track. I was quite anxious about what would happen to my money. But with this, I was really happy that I could know when they received it and it could go directly  to the bank. And my father also got a notification saying “Your bank has received this much money.” That way was easier and I like how it was very quick.

Pradip: I’ve been using WorldRemit for I think 3 years. I really like WorldRemit. It's so fast and so cheap. It’s all good, so good. I really love it.

When you send money back to Nepal, who are you sending to?

Bhumika: Since the lockdown started, I've been sending it more to my parents to do online shopping. And also sometimes to my friends as well, and sometimes I send it to my cousins as a present. When it's their birthday or something like that, but mostly it's for my parents.

Pradip: Most of the time it's for my wife. And some of the time I send money to my mother and brother. But most of the time it's for my wife.

When you send money from Australia to Nepal, how much more of an impact does it have? How far does the money go?

Bhumika: It really depends what they need it for, obviously. But if, let's say, it's someone's birthday and I just want to give them some money, if I send $100 from here, I think it would be a good amount of money for them to buy whatever they want.

Pradip: The exchange rate does fluctuate, but right now the rate is fine. It used to be 75 or 76 Rupees (to the Australian dollar) now it’s 83 or 85 sometimes.

I’ve turned on the WorldRemit notifications so they let me know everytime [the rate changes] but I think the rate has been fairly stable the last few months. It's been around 83, something like that.

Have you ever used other methods of money transfer?

Bhumika: Yes. The last time I used Hundi I think the other issue with it was they didn't give it to the bank, so the person had to go into some kind of service place and they had to take it from there. It wasn't that convenient. And of course, peace of mind. This is a large amount of money, so I would be scared if something happens in between. And what if I can't get hold of anyone at that time?

Pradip: Before I used WorldRemit, I used to use Hundi. In comparison to WorldRemit, it used to give a little bit better rates, but they used to charge more service fees for it. And you can't trust them, because you don’t know them. You just send money to some random person and they send money to Nepal – I don’t know how they do it but it's really risky. And then I found out that WorldRemit was the safest one to use, and I’ve been using it since then.

Experience of migrating to Australia

So how long have you lived in Australia, and what was your motivation for doing so?

Bhumika: I arrived here in 2016. My reason for moving was to study. I came here to do my bachelor's degree and after finishing, I thought, why not try out jobs after graduating? So with that motivation, I've been living here.

Pradip: I’ve lived here for four years. I wanted to graduate with an international degree in IT. That’s why I decided on Australia. I came here and completed my studies, and right now I’m looking for a job here in IT. Also as a migrant, Australia is good. People are good, and friendly.

Do you have a favourite thing about living in Australia?

Bhumika: I really like the lifestyle here compared to where I was in Nepal. I love the transport services. It's quite easy to navigate through. And overall, I think it's good to stay here.

Pradip: It’s very diverse, you don’t just see one kind of person here. It’s a mix of people from all across the world, which makes it a great place to live. Especially in Sydney! I miss Sydney! Canberra is a bit more quiet.

What do you miss most about Nepal?

Bhumika: For me, it would be food – mostly the street foods that we have. We have so many varieties of food, but the most important one would be momos. I don't know if you've heard of them, but they’re these dumplings filled with meat or veg.

I miss my momos the most, to be honest, like the authentic ones like we can’t find here.

Pradip: First thing first is family, no doubt about that – my wife, my mother and brother. And the second thing is I miss my friends.

Thank you so much to Bhumika and Pradip for talking with us and sharing their experiences! If you missed part 1 one the series, you can read it here.